Japan Trip 2013 - Day 14

Started the morning with another trip to Maison Kayser. This time I heeded Ducky's warning and controlled myself by just getting a pistachio eclair.

Pistachio Eclair

This eclair definitely woke me up. If it wasn't the many wonderful layers of pastry that I crunched through, it was the chilled pistachio cream that was nestled in our breakfast.

Ika Tenkatsu Negi Mayo Takoyaki

This was takoyaki with a LOT of onion and a LOT of Kewpie mayonnaise (no joke, the lady was squirting Mt. Fuji on there), and a LOT of tempura bits. This resulted in an epic breakfast. It didn't matter if it was already 85 F outside...we still voraciously ate this sizzling snack.

Yakisoba

After a long walk around the Osaka Aquarium we went to Kuromon Ichiba, which is a local market for food grocery items. We came across a very humble shack that sold homely Japanese foods. I was craving for some yakisoba and got it on impulse. We figured that this dish more or less would taste the same anywhere but we appreciated that it's super cheap to eat in Japan than back at home.

Grilled Fugu

Grilled Fugu Roe

Ducky wanted to try some fugu and we were in the Kuromon Ichiba street market.  We noticed several fugu shops and we settled on this one shop.  Ducky just wanted a taste of the fish,so we just ordered a plate of grilled fugu instead of doing the full course.  The order comes with some pieces of fugu and a radish and pepper to be grilled on this gas grill.  Fugu tastes pretty much tastes like tilapia or any other flavorless fish.  The meat was chewy and spongy.  The skin was especially tough to chew through.  Kitty noticed a bit of tingling when eating the fugu, but Ducky did not.  From what I understand, the most you can expect from eating fugu is a slight tingling sensation in the mouth.  It is quite rare for people to consume toxic levels of tetrodotoxin from licensed restaurants.  Most cases in Japan are due to people trying to prepare the fish themselves.  The allure of eating fugu isn't due to its taste, which is quite bland, but due to the possibility of death.  It is the thrill of eating something that can possibly be dangerous.  Kitty noticed that there was grilled Fugu roe on the menu and remembered the main character from Departures (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1069238/) eating it.  The eggs were almost like runny chicken egg whites.  The eggs had a very sweet and delicate flavor.  If we did not know it was fugu eggs, we would have thought it was some kind of sweetened chicken whites.  Definitely a recommended dish to try.  However, the eggs have no tetrodotoxin, so it is not something that would create the same tingling sensation.  Fugu is not cheap and our two plates set us back nearly 4000 円.  It was an interesting experience and something that should be experienced at least once.  However, it is not a must do at every visit to Japan and it can get quite pricey really fast.

4 Pieces of Ootoro for 1000円

SUPER FATTY TUNA

 After eating the fugu, Ducky saw some cheap otoro selling in the market.  He bought a box of 4 pieces for 1000 yen, which is pretty cheap.  The pieces were relatively thick and fatty.  The tuna meat nearly melted in our mouths and the rice was nicely vingegary.  It was not as delicious as the pieces from Sushi Dai, but definitely had the fatty tuna taste.  With the low cost, it was worth it.  There were many other stalls in the area for sushi and kobe beef, etc.  We would recommend people to try anything in this area.

Refreshing Beautiful Tea

Lemon Tea

Our drinks for the day was a tea drink (which I honestly got because of a commercial I saw with one of my favorite Japanese actresses: Haruka Ayase) and lemon tea from the beloved Gogou no Koucha (Afternoon Tea) company. I doubt the tea one made me feel beautiful but it certainly was refreshing as advertised in the commercial. The lemon tea was basically like the Chinese VITA carton drinks from home.

Fried Seafood Rice Burger

We finally made our pilgrimage to MOS Burger to eat their rice burger. We ordered a seafood burger which was deep fried together into a patty. It was also slathered with a tare soy sauce which really enhanced the grilled rice buns.

Kushiyaki
Left: Pork Tenderloin, Middle: Mochi Cheese, Right: Shrimp

 Couldn't resist grabbing some deep fried snacks while perusing through the department store. Ducky liked the pork tenderloin the most but I preferred the super chewy cheesy one. Can't go wrong with deep fried goods in Japan.

Kasu Udon with Crab Cream Croquette

Kake Udon with Crab Cream Croquette

Although these udon noodles may be ordinary...their prices were just too killer to pass up. They were only $3!!!  The crab cream croquette was all right...probably because it was cold by the time we got it. Otherwise it was another delicious bargain dinner.

Ultimately Fluffy Cheesecake

We picked up cheesecake during our shopping venture. It came out of the oven super fresh and puffed and smooth...but after about 5 hours of traveling it deflated a little....but that did not degrade the taste and allure of Rikuro Ojisan cheesecake! Their cheesecakes are heavenly soft...if one could eat clouds, one would be eating this...so airy and so light. Ducky and I usually are not fans of cheesecake because of its heavy nature but we made an exception for this. And at the bottom of the cheesecake are raisins, which gives a nice palate break until stuffing the next slice of cheesecake into our faces.